


fools

by gotham_ruaidh



Series: Gotham Writes for Imagine Claire & Jamie [110]
Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 22:59:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17476577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotham_ruaidh/pseuds/gotham_ruaidh
Summary: Claire and Jamie reflect in the tent. Inspired by 04x11.





	fools

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted at [Imagine Clair & Jamie](https://imagineclaireandjamie.tumblr.com/post/182139314172/i-read-all-these-missing-moments-i-saved-all) on tumblr

Afterward, Claire rolled to Jamie’s side. He held her close and safe within the circle of his arm, lips pressed to her forehead.

“I *am* a fool,” he breathed. “For thinking so puirly of myself.”

“Yes.” She smiled against his cheek. “That’s one side of the story.”

“What side do *you* see, *mo nighean donn*?”

“The honorable man, who always puts others before him.”

“Which can be foolish, no?”

Her fingers traced the shapes of his clavicles. “The brave man, who promises to achieve things that anyone else would struggle to accomplish.”

“Definitely a fool, for promising more than he may be able to deliver.”

She kissed his ear. “A beautiful man, whose heart has an unknown capacity for love.”

He swallowed. “Aye. If you say so, then it must be true.”

“It *is* true. What haven’t you done for love?”

For a long time he was silent; they listened to the soft rush of the creek, and Ian calling to Rollo, and a squirrel scampering across the top of the tent. Safe, and apart from the world.

“In my life I have sometimes wondered – where would I be, if my brother Willie were still alive? Would I be at Lallybroch still? Would my parents still be alive? Would Ian have ever marrit Jenny?”

“Why do you think you wonder such things?”

He shifted so that he could see her eyes. “I wonder how my life would have been different, had one thing changed. Surely you understand?”

She nodded. “Had I not seen those forget-me-nots at Craigh Na Dun – I never would have touched the stone. Never would have come through.”

“And never would have met me. Aye. So – I wonder who I would be. Where I would be. Who I would be with. Whether my back would have scars, or my hand would have been broken. Whether I would have raised Brianna wi’ you, at Lallybroch.” He swallowed. “Does that make me a fool, to wonder such things that will never come to be?”

“No.” Gently she stroked his cheek. “It just proves you’re human. Though you do realize – had you not met me, you would have been spared a great deal of physical and emotional pain?”

He smiled in the half-dark. The first she had seen in weeks. Then he drew a long finger across her brow, down the bridge of her nose, and over her cheek.

“Who’s the fool now, Sassenach?”


End file.
